The "Woman's Open Is Huge Success" Story

Leaderboard was the scorecard for the event.

It was an ordinary day.  Checking TV and the local newspaper to find out the latest information about the LPGA Woman's U.S. Open that was held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania this past week.  Headlines tell of an extremely successful golf tournament, won by 20-year-old South Korean In Gee Chun, that will more than likely bring other venues to the seven-mile long Lancaster Country Club course in the future.  

Crowds were at an all-time record.

The remarks from female golfers were outstanding with many wondering why Lancaster has not hosted an event on the pro-golf tour before now.  The event set a U.S. Women's Open attendance record with 134,016 spectators for the week.  A few of my friends were volunteers at the event and were gracious enough to share photographs and stories about the event with me.  The following anecdotes will give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes of a major athletic event when it comes to your city.

The 14th green at the Lancaster Country Club.

My neighbor Vicki and her sister decided to volunteer to help at the Woman's U.S. Open because they have an interest in golf and thought it would be fun to part of an event that brought recognition to their city as well as the sport of woman's golf.  After many hours of training, they were given their assignments for the week-long tournament.  Vicki was to be a Marshall on the 14th green at the Lancaster Country Club course in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The course has been ranked as the 8th best course in the state.    Her job was to help usher the fans, as well as golfers and caddies, to their appropriate places on the golf course.  She was also responsible for crowd and noise control and when a golfer was ready to play the ball, she had to hold her hands in the air for silence.  At times she had to block pedestrian traffic so as to allow those participating in the tournament clear passage to their next destination.  She was also responsible for locating a golfer's ball if it was in the rough around the 14th green and hold an orange flag near the ball until the golfer was able to reach the location.  The excitement in her eyes and voice was evident as we talked about her experience of volunteering for this prestigious event.  My guess is that she will be standing in line if another occasion presents itself in the future.

The 12th green was a crowd favorite with the Conestoga
River flowing through i

Perhaps the most popular female golfer on the
course was Michelle Wie, seen here.

Harry volunteered because he loves all sports and thought it would be neat to be part of history in Lancaster County.  He was given the assignment of using an iPad that would register, with the use of a triangulation laser unit, the distance that the ball was from the hole on the 15th green after a golfer had reached the green.   I saw on television how the unit worked that Harry was using.  His iPad showed the 15th green and across the top of the screen were the names of players who were approaching the green.  The color of their hats and tops were listed as well as the color of their caddy's bib was listed in case the golfers were wearing the same color hats or tops.  

But, stars like Greg Norman were also found on the course.

When the balls landed on the green, Harry would touch the ball on his screen with his finger and the computer, through the use of the laser unit, would display the distance from ball to the cup.  The information that Harry received from the tablet was relayed to the Fox sports broadcast booth to help tell their viewers how far the ball was from the hole.  The technology involved in broadcasting a golf match is unbelievable.  Harry loves to play golf, but had never played on the Lancaster Country Club course.  He walked the entire course one of the practice days to see all the holes.  The course has 33 holes that can be used, but most times only 18 are in use.  This allows for repair and maintenance on holes that are not in use. 

So, as you can see, the U.S. Women's Open was a huge success for both the city and county of Lancaster as well as those who had a chance to attend, either as a spectator or as a volunteer.  Here's hoping we will have another chance to showcase our city and county in another event as we did last week.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Many thanks for the photos go to friend and neighbor Vicki.